


Come to London

by chillerhjemmeisak (justmagnusbane)



Series: SKAM prompts [2]
Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Noora gets tired of waiting and comes to london, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-11-30 20:03:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11470695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justmagnusbane/pseuds/chillerhjemmeisak
Summary: AUWilliam doesn't go back to Oslo. Instead, Noora gets tired of waiting and comes to London.based on the prompt "could you do Noora going back to London, sort of the other way around from William coming back to Oslo? :)" on tumblr





	1. Chapter 1

“This would all be so much easier if you just learned to do what I asked!”

William winced at the sound of the front door slamming as his father stormed out. It wasn’t exactly rare that William pissed him off enough to illicit such a reaction but each and every time it managed to dig an even deeper wound in his chest.

“Fy faen”, he sighed, dragging a hand down his face in exhaustion. Feeling a strange sense of relief at being able to speak Norwegian, his father not liking the sound of it when he could scarcely understand it, William sighed.

Collapsing onto the couch, William brought his knees up and sat back against the arm. Dropping his head onto his arms and groaning in frustration, he thought back to his phone. Sitting opposite him on the couch, having been thrown precariously by his father when he caught William texting rather than listening to another useless rant.

William stared at the phone, contemplating whether or not texting Chris would help release any of the pent up aggression he felt. It had become habit; texting Chris a simple flame emoji was enough at this point to alert his best friend that he needed a distraction. Almost every time it came in the form of Chris updating him about Eva, until that bordered on updates about Noora too much and William had to ask him to stop.

London was amazing. It was both better and worse than Oslo, providing him with a much needed respite. But, where Oslo held memories of Nicolai and his troubled upbringing, London was littered with memories of Noora.

Her coat, still tucked into the closet, was one the many imprints she had left on William’s London apartment. Her make up remained tucked into a cupboard in the bathroom and the bedroom was still overflowing with her influence. From the seemingly endless supply of clothes she had left behind to the constant whiff of her perfume William got when he entered the room, the bedroom was still as much Noora’s as it was his.

When she had left, William hadn’t expected it to last. He  _knew_ Noora, in a way that very few, perhaps not even Eva, knew her. And he knew that sometimes she was spontaneous and irrational.

But when the first 24 hours had passed and she hadn’t returned, William had to really consider that she really might have jumped on a plane back to Oslo. When the first week had been up and she hadn’t returned, William had given up, tearing through the house to figure out if she really had left.

While most of her clothes remained, which was arguably why William hadn’t believed she’d really left in the first place, all of her valuables were gone. Her favourite bracelet, never worn but always stored in her jewellery box, was missing. Her books, laptop, pictures and postcards were all missing. Her favourite clothes, including her top from Madrid, were all vacant.

It was only then that William started to realise she had really left.

It had been hard to accept at first, but by now William was used to the dull ache in his chest when he sat in the apartment, surrounded by silence. Noora hated silence and as such, their apartment was always full of noise from music to her endless phone calls to Eva.

His father had only seemed to worsen when Noora left. When she was around, he had been civil, sometimes even kind. He had purposely be softer on William lest Noora stand up to him, something William knew she wouldn’t hesitate to do.

Now that she was gone however, his father had become cruel. With every mention of her name, William’s father grew more and more angry, and resentful of that fact that William had not yet moved on.

But William didn’t want to.

So he really wasn’t sure why he had lied to Chris. Telling his best friend that he had found a new girlfriend had seemed like a good idea at the time, one that reflected his desire to get Chris off his back. Chris was his best friend but that meant that the boy was never afraid to call William out, and had been doing so every day since Noora left. It had seemed like the easiest solution to get him to stop; to never have to hear the words “Come back to Oslo” ever again, because with every time he heard them he felt his resolve break a little more.

William sighed deeply, slumping back into the couch and spreading his legs out to lay down. Reaching down and grabbing his phone, he shot a quick text to work to let them know he wasn’t coming in before dropping his head back against the couch.

It all seemed to happen at once.

First there was a  _ping!_ and when William looked down there was a text lighting up his screen.

He raised an eyebrow at Chris’ message, a simple “Open the door”. William gaped at his phone; had Chris seriously come all the way from Oslo without telling him first?

Then, there was a knock at the door but William didn’t move to answer it. The knock was far too soft to possibly be Chris’ and the silence that followed was so unlike his best friend that William immediately turned to his phone to text Chris back.

 

_**From William, 9:16am** _

**Hva faen, Chris? What are you playing at?**

 

_**To William, 9:16am** _

**WTF bro, open the door.**

 

_**From William, 9:17am** _

**Are you seriously outside my door right now?**

 

_**To William, 9:17am** _

**Maybe. No. I dont know.**

 

_**From William, 9:17am** _

**You just text me to open the door**

 

_**To William, 9:17am** _

**so open the door**

_**From William, 9:18am** _

**WTF are you playing at Chris? Why are you here?**

 

_**To William, 9:18am** _

**cos im a really fucking good friend**

 

_**From William, 9:18am** _

**?**

 

_**To William, 9:19am** _

**Please come outside.**

**We need to talk.**

 

William frowned at the change in tone and with a groan of frustration, pushed himself from the couch and moved towards the door. He hovered for a moment, sighing deeply before swinging open the door.

And he froze.

Noora smiled nervously, handing Chris’ phone back to him. Chris stood cautiously off to one side, car keys hanging from his finger and a smirk on his lips.

William quickly tore his eyes from his best friend and focused his attention on Noora.

She was exactly as he remembered and a part of him felt stupid for expecting her to have changed so much. But William felt like he had, as though her leaving had shaped him into a completely unrecognisable person.

But unlike him, Noora still looked stunning. Her hair was knotted and untidy and her lipstick was applied haphazardly but her eyes were bright and wide and as vulnerable as he remembered. Her lower lip quivered slightly and she appeared as uncomfortable in the silence as he expected.

“Halla”, she finally spoke, breathless.

William knew he was staring, gaping even, but he couldn’t help it. Swallowing and averting his eyes momentarily to calm down, he spoke.

“Halla.”

The air between them was charged, the tension not sexual but so thick that William expected on of them to break down any moment; and he prided himself on not often doing so.

Noora looked just as unsure, as though so afraid to say the wrong thing that she would endure the silence in order to savour the moment.

That didn’t appear likely however as the moment William opened his mouth to speak, he was cut off by the all too familiar voice of Chris.

“Faen, just kiss her already” his best friend moaned loudly.

Noora rolled her eyes and the spell was broken. Turning to Chris, she smiled softly but with obvious exasperation. “Thanks for getting me here Chris, but you can seriously go now.”

Chris looked offended for a moment but the grin that followed showed he wasn’t annoyed. “No problem.” Turning to William he said proudly, “See how good of a friend I am?”

William rolled his eyes, leaning against the door frame and looking pointedly at his best friend. Chris seemed to get the picture and quickly moved to leave. Just as he reached the stairs leading down to the lobby, he froze.

“Almost forgot”, he laughed awkwardly, turning around and dropping the car keys into William’s palm. “Here.”

William stared down at his hands in confusion but before he could ask, Chris shrugged. “If you’re wondering, yeah I brought your old car to London. And yes, I charged all of this to your card.”

With that, he spun on his heel and left as dramatically as expected of Chris, throwing over his shoulder an obnoxious “have fun!” Where he was going, William didn’t know. Nor did he care.

The silence settled once more and William knew he had to say something. In his state, he somehow managed to stutter out, “You came back?”

Noora turned back to him quickly, as though she had forgotten he was there. The look in her eyes told him that wasn’t the case however and William watched as a single tear gathered in her eye.

“I shouldn’t have left”, she said adamantly.

William shook his head softly. “No”, he said. “It’s a good thing you did.” At Noora’s look of confusion, he continued. “You needed to. For you. For me too.”

Noora nodded slowly. “Yeah.”

After a moment, William took a deep, steadying breath. He opened the door further and with as straight of a face as he could manage, he nodded Noora inside.

“Let’s talk then.”

 

 

 


	2. Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when Noora comes in, and her and William finally have a much needed talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 that I apparently forgot to post

Noora took a moment to look around her; the room felt simultaneously familiar and startlingly different. Without the constant depression she had been in looming over her, the room looked more comfortable and homely than she remembered.

William's touch was everywhere and she didn't just mean the expensive furniture; his clothes were strewn about the room and food containers littered the table. It was clear that William hadn't eaten a home-cooked meal since she had left.

“How have you been?” Noora softly asked, watching him close the door out of the corner of her eye.

William turned to Noora with a raised eyebrow. “Noora”, he said, deadpan. “Let's talk.”

Noora took a deep breath but quickly nodded her agreement. She moved towards the couch, taking a seat a one end and looking expectantly up at William, who joined her after a moment of hesitation.

Where Noora was fire, William was ice. In Noora was a spark, a feisty nature that drove her to be determined and independent. In comparison, William was isolated, dark and closed off but no less passionate.

It was in moments like this that Noora was reminded of that.

Whatever emotion William had allowed himself to show at the door was gone, make-shift disinterest in it's place. Noora smiled sadly, knowing that this was his way of protecting himself.

“You're probably wondering why I'm back”, she began.

William's snort cut off whatever she had planned to say. “Yeah”, he sighed. “I am.”

Noora nodded, the tension settling around her like a literal weight. She felt her throat constrict slightly, all her pre-prepared lines scattered in her mind. Her thoughts raced as she attempted to figure out what would ever constitute a basic apology.

“I'm sorry”, she eventually whispered. Her voice came out more hoarse than she had expected and her milky white skin seemed almost translucent as all blood rushed to her cheeks.

William watched Noora with a curious eye, obviously unsure where to tread. “Don't be”, he finally settled on.

Noora raised her head slightly to meet William's eye and what she saw there surprised her. William appeared to have opened himself up to this moment, his eyes soft and vulnerable despite the tense nature of his shoulders and the nervous bouncing of his leg.

“No but I should be. Even with everything that happened, walking away without even warning you was unfair.”

William digested her words and felt an uncontrollable sense of pleasure at her words. Despite his wrongdoing in the situation, her leaving had severely wounded him, especially since he had been granted not a moment of warning.

“Walking in that door”, he began, voice far more shaky than he was comfortable with. “It took me a while to notice. At first I thought you had gone out for the day or something.”

Noora felt her stomach sink with guilt at what she knew would come next.

“So that's when I text you... and you never replied.”

Just as expected, William's words were a punch in the gut to Noora. While she had been the one to sever contact, the looming guilt she carried about how she handled the situation seemed to hit her all over again just as it had when she sat on the plane, watching it take off and flee London.

“I got so worried I tried to file a missing person's report”, William said. His voice was hard, betrayed no emotion. “It was only when Chris text me to tell me he'd seen you in Oslo that I realised you weren't dead in a ditch somewhere.”

Noora winced slightly, the canvernous hole in her chest widening to accommodate more undissolvable guilt. “That wouldn't happen”, she said uselessly.

William seemed to grow angry at her words. “We're in _London_ , Noora. A capital city. Anything can happen here.”

The atmosphere began to grow even more tense and Noora felt the hairs on her arm stand on end as she regarded William with nervous eyes.

“William, I'm sorry for scaring you” Noora said softly. She wasn't sure what, but something compelled her to reach across and gently lay her hand over his on the couch pillow. “I'm so sorry.”

William nodded slowly but didn't remove his hand from under hers. “I know”, he sighed deeply. “I am too.”

“For what?”

William must have been short of breath, for the next breath he took was deep and stuttered. “For making you think that I was upset with you... for not testifying against Nikolai.”

And there it was; the elephant in the room had been addressed. Despite the relief Noora knew she should feel, the persistent shiver that travelled down her spine at Nico's name made her frown.

“I wasn't upset with you”, William continued. “I was just.... devastated that he gets to walk around after that. That he's somewhere in Norway living a normal life, and you were here in London devastated and completely changed. You like to pretend it didn't affect you Noora but we both know it did.”

Noora paused for a moment, absorbing the explanation she had so desperately craved from him. “Yeah”, she relented. “It did.”

“And I couldn't- the more I sat at home, around you, the more I thought about it. It made me so angry Noora, so angry. So I avoided it, avoided home, avoided... you.”

Silence settled around them, not awkward but far from comfortable. In the silence, Noora closed her eyes to steady her breathing; crying would do neither of them any good. When she opened her eyes, William was watching her closely.

William looked away after a moment, his fingers carding awkwardly through the fur blanket under him. “It was stupid.”

Noora laughed softly. “I'm not going to deny that”, she teased gently.

Noora's words tugged at William's lips and he smiled slightly, albeit ruefully.

“I wont say that what you did, avoiding me, was okay. But I think I understand why you did it now”, Noora said. She looked down at William's busy hands, getting lost in her thoughts. “I don't blame you for being disappointed in me after that, everyone was.”

William's head snapped up, his back straightened and his attention focused like a laser on Noora. The look in his eyes as he looked at her was one of devastation.

William shuffled towards Noora on the couch, his hand slipping out from under hers and running up the expanse of her arm. Holding her upper arms and squeezing tightly, William drew Noora's attention.

“Noora”, he said clearly and pointedly. “I was _not_ disappointed in you. I'm still not.”

Noora met his eye, hers embarrassingly moist with unshed tears. Her lip quivered uncontrollably as she stared into the eyes of the man she loved, his own gazing back at her with something flaming within them. Noora knew that the same fire was reflecting back at him.

“I love you, Noora Amelie Sætre. Nothing would change that, testifying or not.”

Noora looked at William for any sign of his emotions betraying his words but found none. His gaze was as steadfast and unmoving as always.

“Jeg elsker deg også.” Noora's voice came out far shakier and quiet than she had anticipated but from the small smile on William's face she was sure he had heard her. “I'm sorry for thinking the worst, for thinking that you would ever look down on me for not testifying. For thinking you didn't love me anymore.”

William winced slightly. Leaning forward, William pressed his forehead against Noora's and dropped his hands into her lap to grasp her own. “It kills me that you thought that.”

Noora nodded solemnly. “It killed me too.”

William nudged his head against hers, rubbing his forehead to hers as he sighed deeply. Noora let her eyes flutter closed as his did, both of them bathing in the silence and the feeling of each other's breath against their face.

“Every moment”, William whispered.

Noora opened her eyes to look at him but William's remained closed. “H æ? ”

William sighed once more, “Every moment you weren't here I just....”

“Me too”, Noora whispered, her eyes falling closed once more. “We have so much to talk about.”

William pulled away with a deep sigh but his smile was reassuring. “I know”, he promised. “But let's just-” William moved backwards to fall back against the couch, his arms open in invitation.

Noora giggled quietly as she laid herself next to him, her arm locked tightly around his waist and her head pillowed on his chest. William ran a hand through her platinum blonde hair before leaning down to press a kiss to the crown of her head.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Comment down below any requests or one-shot ideas, or hit me up on tumblr! (chillerhjemmeisak)
> 
> ALT ER LOVE

**Author's Note:**

> My first Noorhelm prompt <3 Hope you liked it and I really hope William felt in character cos he felt kinda OOC for me as I was writing :(


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